TotalEnergies Confirms First Oil Leak At 2.3 Million Barrel-Capacity Floating Platform

French oil and gas giant, TotalEnergies has confirmed the first crude oil leak at its 2.3 million storage capacity Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, located in Port Harcourt, Rivers, stating that the incident had been contained.

The oil major in a message, on Thursday, by its Country Communications Manager, Dr Charles Ebereonwu, said the incident did not impact production at the five-year-old facility as well as the shoreline and host communities.

The said oil leak at the 200,000 barrels per day Egina FPSO had occurred on November 15 while crude was being loaded from the facility to a vessel, according to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Ebereonwu said the leak was a minor one and had been contained with appropriate remedial measures.

“This is not a massive leak and the sheen has been treated with the appropriate response that resulted in a reduction of most of it. No shoreline or communities have been impacted. Production has not been affected.

“This is not a massive leak and the sheen has been treated with the appropriate response that resulted in a reduction of most of it,” he said.

NIMASA had in a statement issued earlier, reported a crude oil spill incident that occurred during loading operations in Egina FPSO.

In the statement signed by its Head of Public Relations, Edward Osagie, the agency said the incident occurred on November 15, 2023, at the 220,000 metric tons FPSO facility — operated by TotalEnergies — in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

NIMASA stated that it was collaborating with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) from the Crisis Management Room (CMR) on the incident.

It added that it was using an oil spill monitoring software from the emergency response centre to monitor the incident in real-time, adding that the volume is not yet confirmed.

NIMASA further said TotalEnergies was also conducting aircraft surveillance and applying dispersant while evaluating additional action to clean up the incident.

The Director General of NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, had assured that the agency was collaborating with all stakeholders to control the pollution.

“Since the incident happened, our men have been liaising with other organs of government to ensure the pollution is effectively controlled and managed, to protect the marine environment and the communities close to the incident point.

“Accidents do happen, it’s what we do thereafter that matters and I believe that the IOC, Total, working with NIMASA, NUPRC, NOSDRA and collaborating with international service providers, will surely ensure proper management of the spill,” he said.

Located some 130 kilometres off the coast of Nigeria at water depths of more than 1,500 meters, the Egina oil field, which came on-stream in December 2018, is one of Nigeria’s most ambitious ultra-deep offshore projects.

Primarily developed locally to accelerate the pace of Nigeria’s industrial fabric and the transfer of technology, the project produces 200,000 barrels of oil per day, which is close to 10 per cent of the country’s total oil production.

Peter Uzoho

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